Double Cross
by bobdabuilder0804
Summary: AU S3 JackNinaRamon. This will be short. Thanks. Please review! 3 new updates
1. Chapter 1

Ramon smiled victoriously as Nina reluctantly passed him the silver case and the virus which was safely tucked inside it. The men surrounding them acting as security for Ramon, backed off slightly, aware of the power he held, and how deadly it could be.

"Well done Jack," Ramon said slyly, "and of course Nina, I have to thank you for your efforts too."

Pedro and Tomas moved closer knowing what would soon be expected of them. Unless Ramon wanted to do the deed himself, out of respect for his brother who still laid in the barn, soaked in his own cold blood.

"As a reward for the results you produced," the briefcase was lifted to indicate the 'results' he was referring to, "I shall give you both painless deaths."

Jack raised his hands as Ramon drew his weapon, Nina took a step back slightly, her eyes were focused on Jack rather than Ramon as a look of annoyance slid onto her face. '_I told him this would happen_.'

Chase held the binoculars in one hand as he ordered the assault teams to move in, he couldn't let them kill Bauer, not after all he had done to prevent the virus from falling into terrorist hands.

"Ramon," Jack panicked as he watched the drug lord caress his gun, "we had a deal."

"The deal is finished!" The man yelled, his voice making all of his men flinch behind him. "Hector is dead because of you Jack, you couldn't possibly think I'd let you walk away," he sneered, before spitting on the flood near where Jack stood and taking aim.

"Teams go!" Chase yelled as he took aim with his own sniper riffle, "they're gonna kill him!"

Nina wavered on her feet as she watched Ramon aim his weapon, Jack was still pleading for their lives. Chase lined the aim up with the body of Ramon Salazar and took the shot as Ramon fired his own weapon at the two former agents frantically.

Bullets flew from everywhere, Tony couldn't hear anything other than shots and shouts at CTU, frustrated he threw his headset away, before seeing the stunned and startled expressions on the faces of those still listening, and pulling the earphones back on.

Chase, carrying the riffle under his arm, ran towards the chaos no longer firing, afraid he'd hit a friendly in the rush. The assault teams were in and the shootout had died down. Two men were fighting hand to hand combat but Chase didn't recognise either so he hurried past them.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment and dropped the riffle as he approached the bodies that littered the ground. He felt his hear pumping against his chest as sweat ran into his eyes - no pain from the incidents before registering in his mind, he was functioning on pure adrenalin… and fear. Fear that Bauer was one of the bodies sprawled out on the sand.

Tony was speaking to him over his radio but Chase couldn't understand the mans words. He ignored the noise and focused on the helicopter that was circling overhead. "Team 1 this is Edmunds, shine your light down onto the bodies."

The command was fulfilled instantly and Chase took another step towards the rubble. He cursed out loud, startling some of the commando's who were restraining the Mexican's that had survived the fire-fight.

"Tony its me," Chase said, defeat ebbed his voice, "Ramon escaped, with the virus."

"We need to start a search now," Tony replied, before pausing, "what about Jack?"

He closed his eyes as he waited for a response. "He and Nina Myers are both gone too."

Nodding his head grimly Tony shut of the radio before slamming his fist down onto the computer work surface with anger, worry and frustration.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack stumbled along the hard desert terrain hoping for some sign of shelter to appear. It was difficult to keep on moving though the cold darkness, and he regretted not stopping earlier when the earth had been rocky, offering suitable grounds to hide. But that had been an hour since his escape and he knew that he could be found there. Now, hours later the air was lightening, the darkness no longer thick and imposing, you could almost see through it.

After covering another mile Jack began to feel worse. Emotions were swirling around in his mind. Ramon was free with the virus, as Jack had fled after Nina and away from the gunfire he was certain he saw Ramon doing the same in the opposite direction, the case in his arms as he had ran. At least that lowered the chances of Ramon coming after them, but not by much. If Ramon wanted the pair dead he could probably find them as easily as CTU would.

Ramon finding them would be bad, but it would increase his chances of finding the virus and maybe clean mess he had made. What about CTU? He found new energy filter through his body to help him move faster when he thought about CTU. He wanted to stay hidden until he recovered the virus, despite the fact that that this was no seemingly impossible. He had Nina. She wouldn't deal with CTU. So he had to keep moving, and once they were far enough away, hopefully she would deal with him.

One of Ramon's wild shots had hit Jack in the hand, the pain was intense. After scrambling away he'd ripped off shreds of his shirt to bandage the wound up, but each time he felt it painfully throb he was rewarded with another stab of guilt as Chase filtered into his mind. He hoped Claudia had been able to help the man, and he had survived.

He couldn't afford to think about Chase, the guilt slowed him down and he hoped to cover further ground before daylight where they would be at their most vulnerable. Day hadn't broke yet, and Jack was exhausted, he doubted his ability to make it to sunrise alone.

Carrying Nina was slowing him down. After tying his hand up and looking around he had seen her shadow, running for her life. Knowing he couldn't let her escape, he'd followed her and captured her as she had eventually passed out from the blood loss. A bullet had caught her in the shoulder and although it hadn't been fatal it had bled badly.

Jack had gritted his teeth for a moment, trying to convince himself why he needed to fix the wound. He wanted nothing more to watch her bleed to death on the floor, but she had information relating to the virus. As the rest of his shirt had been used to dress Nina wound, Jack had held the image of the virus in his mind to help him through it.

Hours had passed and Nina was still unconscious, slung over his shoulder he was aware that despite his work both of their gun shot wounds were bleeding. The air was cold, he tried to wrap his jacket around himself but he couldn't manage it, his hand was too sensitive and painful to move.

Trying to fight his exhaustion Jack pushed on to a jog, but his foot hit a rock and he tripped, falling forwards hitting the ground face first. For a moment all he felt was the blinding agony rip through his hand as he landed on it, then the darkness as it started to cloud his vision.

He could see Nina a few feet spread sprawled out on her side, still out of it. Using his last ounce of strength he crawled over to her on his stomach, panting from the effort and fighting the pain which was surging from his hand to his elbow.

He reached behind himself and pulled the cuffs he had taken from her earlier out of the waistband of his trousers. He closed his eyes as he tried to catch his breath, telling himself again that she had information he needed. Knowing he was going to regret it later, Jack cuffed Nina's wrist to his own, before tossing the key behind them into the darkness. Only then did he allow the darkness to take him too, knowing he couldn't fight it off any longer.


	3. Chapter 3

She was as prepared as possible, under the circumstances, but Nina knew in this life preparations meant nothing. Her shoulder ached from the bullet wound and her arm was almost numb. But she was alive, and that had almost surprised her as much as waking up next to Jack had.

As she came too out in the cold open desert air she had felt tired and groggy. Pain had been her initial sensation, until she saw Jack sprawled out next to her, covered in his own blood. Shock had consumed her, and as she looked down at her own wound she wondered if she was delirious.

The last thing she could remember was fleeing from the agents as one of Ramon's stray bullets had hit her. She could vaguely remember trying to fight the pain but eventually she had passed out. There were no images of Jack in her mind.

Groaning in pain she tried to sit up and was again shaken when she realised Jack and herself were cuffed together. A startled almost worried expression covered her features for the slightest moment, before she noticed the cloth dressing covering her wound. With a shake of her head Nina had smiled smugly to herself, he was here again. Bauer was like a recurring nightmare, when she was on the verge of making it big, he turned up and things quickly spiralled downhill.

She had softly checked her own wound, before leaning over Jack and taking a quick look at his own hand which was similarly wrapped up in the remains of his shirt. As she watched him sleep she smiled victoriously to herself, she had been right - he was working with CTU. That was the only sufficient explanation for what had happened.

The agents were clearly there for him, and the fact that he had dressed her wound instead of shooting her again himself, made it clear to Nina that she was hear for a reason. He needed her. Alive.

But did she need him?

Nina surveyed the hut as she paced. There was blankets and a bed, but not too much of anything else. She had been pleased to find a first aid kit strapped to the wall above and sink and had greedily fumbled through its contents. There were no pain pills but a thick roll or bandages and antiseptic wipes which pleased her.

After carefully untying Jacks make-shift bandage she stripped her top off and carefully washed the wound out with cold but clean water. Clean water meant they were not far from habitation and as she worked she silently debated if that was good or bad news.

The wipes stung but gave her confidence that she would survive the wound as she had others. As she tossed the empty packet onto the floor she cast her eyes on Jack, who she had laid on the bed with much difficulty. His hand was held protectively against his chest even in his sleep, and the bandage was coated in a thick layer if dried and crusty blood.

Shaking her head she tried not to feel guilty for using the wipes on herself. He was the reason she was injured anyway. He had abducted her, then threatened and used her against her own will, before kidnapping her again after getting her shot. How could she feel any guilt at all for him, she wondered as she refused to meet her own eyes in the reflection of the small dirty mirror.

After tightly bandaging the wound Nina saved what was left of the material for Jack, knowing there was no point in wasting it when he would need it for his own injuries. Sitting on an upturned crate with her wet top pulled back on Nina wrapped one of the cabins blankets around her shoulders for warmth as she watched the sleeping beast, gun ready in her hand.

As she tried not to doze she wondered if she was doing the right thing by being here. Why hadn't she left him and ran for her life as soon as she had freed herself from him? She knew that her odds of survival were higher in his company, he needed her for information, and right now she didn't fancy taking her chances against the desert, Ramon and her clients people who had probably started the hunt for her already.

She sighed as she played with the gun. Jack was her best chance of survival - how pathetic was that! It was safer for her to stay with a man who would kill her in a heartbeat to avenge his wife's murder. How had she gotten so low? Her cheeks went red with anger as she thought about how Jack was the reason she was so low - if he hadn't turned up she would have either the virus or a huge payoff in her possession.

Jack grunted in his sleep and moved slightly, Nina sat up and cocked the gun. Jack needed her for information but that didn't mean he wouldn't kill her anyway. She needed to take control right from the start, he was her prisoner, she would not let him turn the tables on her again. She would use his need to find the virus to her advantage, she could easily cut a deal with CTU without hurting her employers.

Grumbling again Jacks eyes began to blink as he slowly came around. Taking a deep breath Nina leant besides him and pressed the gun tightly into his cheek, willing herself not to pull the trigger out of spite alone.

"Wake up sleeping beauty," she whispered seductively into his ear, before moving the gun away and quickly firing a around through the pillow next to his head.


	4. Chapter 4

Nina moved back quickly after firing the shot as Jack was jolted back to consciousness. A small smile slid over her face as she stood by the bed, watching as Jack rolled his head to the side before struggling to open his eyes.

"You were never this much of a heavy sleeper Jack," she spoke with amusement in her voice, "I guess it must have all caught up with you," she smirked, "or maybe things have changed since we last slept together."

"What's going on Nina," he croaked, ignoring her attempts to anger him as his eyes fell closed again from the exhaustion. He tried to sit up but Nina moved quickly shoving him back down. He felt something tighten around his wrist as he tried to pull away and realised he was cuffed to a bed. Apparently Nina had some compassion left in her as she hadn't cuffed his injured hand.

Dropping his head back down onto the pillow he groaned as a wave of dizziness passed over him. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at Nina as she pulled the crate closer to the bed so she could be near him, the gun never pointing in any direction but his.

He stared at her expressionless as he slowly sifted through his memory trying to remember what had last happened. Waking up here, captured by Nina, made no sense.

Nina was instantly intrigued by his behaviour. After noting the handcuff holding him back he laid back down and closed his eyes again. He didn't display panic, of worry, or even the pain she was sure he was feeling. He displayed nothing, and although she knew it was a tactic of survival, she was surprised by the lack of anger and rage he usually carried during the few times he had been in her presence since the murder of his wife. It was unnerving to see him so in control of himself.

"How did you get out of the cuffs?" His voice was low and he stared up at the ceiling, unwilling to look at her. When she spoke he concentrated on the pain in his hand instead of his desire to break free and hurt her.

"You searched me very thoroughly," she said, before looking down at the pile of objects scattered on the floor, the ones she had herself taken form Jack as soon as she had freed herself. Some were those he had taken from her, others were his own - ultimately - they were all useless.

Nina watched Jack carefully as he stared up at the ceiling, she could see him clenching his injured hand and knew instantly what he was doing as a means of self control.

"You missed my hair grips," she said, smiling to herself knowing he would hate the fact that he had missed something so seemingly insignificant which had allowed her to escape.

"So you got free," he said, "why am I here? Why didn't you take off or kill me? We both know what I want to-"

Nine cut in quickly, "why didn't you take off or kill me?"

Jack signed deeply as he clenched his hand again, the pain spurred up through his hand to his wrist. "You have information I need."

"Yes, I do," Nina said as she laughed, "but you have something I need too."

He could hear the gloat in her voice and his eyes flickered down as he cast his gaze on her for the briefest moment, before quickly looking away.

"And what is that?" He hated himself for asking but he couldn't help it. She did have information he needed, he would have to play with the hand she dealt him if he wanted to get it.

"Survival."

Jack coughed as surprise covered his features. "Nina I think you could teach us all a thing or two about survival," he said dryly.

"Maybe. But right now, I have the Salazar's, Amador and my employer to look out for, whilst making sure you don't get carried away and try to kill me either," she paused, wondering if she was making a mistake by giving up this information. She continued, deciding that Jack would deal with her if he knew the truth about her situation. "I figure that my safest option is to go with CTU."

Jack sat up as best as he could in shock. "What?"

Nina nodded her head smiling simply, hiding her enjoyment at his shock.

"CTU will arrest and charge you for breaking the terms of your pardon."

Nina smiled while gently running her fingers over the grooves in the gun. "I can deal with that. I'll just get another pardon for the information I have."

Jack shook his head, "you can't keep doing this - they aren't going to keep letting you walk away," he snarled, angered by her confidence and the fact that their was logic in what she was saying.

"Let me worry about my freedom," she said, "you need to contact CTU and get us both back in LA alive. Then I'll give up my information so you can go after Ramon or the virus or whatever it was you're in Mexico for."

For the first time, a small smile drifted over Jacks lips as he looked down at his hands sadly, "that may not be as easy as it sounds."

Nina stared at him as she waited for him to continue, curious about his words and suspicious of him trying to play her as he had the Salazar's.

"There's a warrant out for my arrest in the US," he said quietly, "CTU might not deal with me as willingly as they can," he said, wondering if Gael had kept the cover in place, or if Tony had even made it or not.

"Good," Nina said cheerfully as she aimed the gun at him again, "if they want to arrest you then they wont waste any time in getting us back to LA." She paused before giggling to herself in a childlike way, "who knows, maybe I'll get a reward for finding you!"


	5. Chapter 5

As Nina's laughter died down Jack looked down at his injured hand to distract himself. His mind still swirled with conflicting thoughts and a pounding headache which seemed to increase in its intensity when his eyes met hers. But he had to remain calm. He had to stay in control. Nina was enjoying the upper hand she held and he knew this could result in a mistake or carelessness on her behalf. If she let her guard down he had to be ready to pounce.

"Before we can do anything," Nina said slowly, "I need to fix your hand."

There was a flicker of amusement in her eyes and Jack slowly moved his hand away defencelessly. He tried to sit up and failed once more, the arm cuffed to the headboard limited his movement.

"Don't look at me like that Jack," she taunted, "I'm just trying to help." She added, showing him the bandages she had saved to illustrate her point.

She didn't bother cleaning the wound as she had her own, instead she clumsily wrapped the thick white material around the wound as best as possible before tying it off tightly. Jack closed his eyes and winced, but gave no other indication that he had felt the pain she had purposely inflicted.

"Now we just need a phone," Nina said to herself but aloud. "I don't think we will find one in here."

With his eyes closed and his breathing laboured Jack spoke up, his voce harsh as he tried to hide the disgust he felt at the thought of working with the woman. "How far from civilisation are we?"

Nina waited a beat as she considered answering him. "Not too far, but the huts isolated."

"Then we need to move," Jack said, urgency in his voice as he tried to push himself up with the fragile hand. Bloody soaked through the clean wrap staining it but he didn't notice. Nina did.

"Why the rush? Salazar might have lookouts set around the village. We're safer here."

"No were not!" Jack snapped, "If the area is isolated then it's the first place they will look."

"Then what's to say CTU wont find us?"

Jack shook his head. "They wont even be looking for us, they'll be following the virus."

Nina said nothing before shifting on the crate slightly. She stared at Jack, watching him wince with each limited movement. "What's wrong?"

Jack faked a laugh. "What's wrong?" He asked indignantly, "is that a rhetorical question?"

Ignoring him Nina moved over and held her hand against Jacks forehead, smirking again as he tried to move away from her. He was hot and sweaty, but Nina wasn't sure that the gun shot wound had caused the sudden fever.

"Something's wrong with you."

Jack looked at her angrily. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.

Inside he silently cursed himself, Nina and the Salazar's; knowing that the pain he was feeling was the withdrawal kicking back in again - the pills had worn off.

"Fine," she said, her tone indicating that she didn't buy it. "As long as you are sure you are well enough to get us back to CTU. Slowing us down would not be in your best interests," she continued, the threat not in her voice but the way she played with the gun now resting on her lap.

"We need to go now," he replied, trying not to snap as he felt his temperature rise.

"Sure Jack, we will," she said, making no attempt to move. "Still giving out the orders, aren't you" she laughed, before adding menacingly, "some things never change."

As she moved away from the crate Jack saw two old dusty boots visible on the rotting floor; which Nina's position had obscured from his view. Jack sat up as best as he could as the body came into view. A dark skinned and aged Mexican man lay on the floor with dead open eyes staring up at nothingness.

"Son of a bitch," Jack whispered, now knowing how Nina had found the cabin and moved him to it. "Some things don't change," he thought with resignation as he warily watched her gather her supplies uninterested with him or the dead body.


	6. Chapter 6

The terrain was bare and neither Jack nor Nina were comfortable with being out in the open dusty land. The only advantage was that they would see anybody approaching, but given their situation and lack of fire power neither one wanted to encounter any problems, although their worries remained unspoken.

Nina was panting heavily as she hurried forwards, Jack lagging behind slightly with his hands cuffed together before him. He was sweating heavily and Nina knew something was wrong with him. When they first set off he had rushed on ahead, in better physical shape than her, although she hadn't been worried of an escape attempt due to the desert surroundings and the gun she had tucked down the waistband of her trousers. Now, a hour later and he had slowed down to the extent that she too had significantly slowed her own pace.

She paused for a moment and sat down on the flat land as she waited for Jack to catch up. When he got there he asked, "how far away did you say the town was?"

Nina growled, "Ten miles. It's gonna take a while longer at this rate."

Ignoring her dig at him Jack said, "If my hands were free-"

"Don't even try it," Nina interrupted and Jack was silent, knowing it was a feeble attempt, Nina would never free him, even though she carried their only weapon.

"Let me ask you something," Nina said, trying to rile him up, maybe it would give him more energy and she couldn't deny that she wanted to provoke a reaction for her own fun too, "are you hoping Ramon catches up with us?"

Jack shook his head and laughed slightly, "it doesn't matter, we're sitting ducks no matter where we go."

"We will hide out until CTU get to us in the town," Nina snapped, not liking his disbelief in her plan.

"We'll probably be the only Americans there," he said bluntly, "and we're both filthy and bloodied, we'll be spotted."

"Come on," Nina said, prodding him with the gun, "you've had you're pit stop, lets get going, try use your negativity to speed you up," she muttered as she set off again, Jack following behind, trying to push the stomach cramps to the back of his mind.

Two hours later they pushed onto the outskirts of civilisation and relief was gushing from the pair of them. Nina, believing the first stage of her survival plan being complete; and Jack, who had stopped twice earlier to vomit and then dry heave, in the hopes of resting and maybe finding something to "cure" him.

They kept their heads low as they moved past people and Jack, ignoring Nina's lead took shelter behind the first building they came too. Nina glared at him as he held out his hands before him expectantly. She started to shake her head when he cut in, "the cuffs will draw attention to us," he snapped, and Nina watched him a moment before making a move. Sweat still dribbled from his hair, his colour was pail from his earlier sickness and as she studied his hands she noticed the tremble in them, alongside the dried blood which coated the bandage. On top of this she knew he couldn't touch her as he still needed her for her information, so she decided to take a chance on him.

"You try anything Jack and I swear to God-"

"Just do it," he cut in, shaking his head with annoyance. Once the cuffs were off Jack took a moment to carefully rub both wrists before they headed through the quiet town and after an hour of aimless wondering they realised that even if they found a motel they had no money to pay for a room, and it would likely be the only one in the area, and so it wasn't an option. An old farm house stood on the outskirts of the area and behind it what looked to be a run down barn, derelict. The two climbed in through an empty window pane deciding it was safer to try the barn then the farm itself. The place was empty except for mouldy hay and the rotting wooden structure. Nina began to pace as Jack slid down the wall, seemingly out of it, she was now more than suspicious of his sudden "illness."

She moved over to him and after checking again through the open window that the area around them was clean she leant down and carefully stared into his face. He was asleep, or unconscious, so she grabbed his wrist to re-cuff him. As she did so Jacks bandaged fist shot out, hitting Nina on the nose and sending her sprawling to the floor. As she struggled to move through the shock Jack sprang towards her and got her into a head lock and squeezed until she passed out, careful to make sure he didn't kill her.

He cuffed her hands together and then dragged her away from the window, behind a beam and seemingly out of view. Once his task was complete he cradled his throbbing fist for a moment before climbing back out of the window and jogging back towards the most populated area of the village. He needed to find a phone, he told himself, knowing that the drug wasn't an option until he had the virus back in his possession. As he thought about how he was going to get a phone, and who he was going to call he allowed Nina to slip back into his mind. Is she woke she could easily escape, she wasn't restrained to anything in the barn. He smirked to himself as he readjusted the guns position beneath his jacket knowing she wouldn't run, she needed him as much as he needed her.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack tried to appear relaxed as he walked, although his paranoia made him look more suspicious as he hung his head and kept his hands in his pockets as he walked. There were a few dusty looking bars along the main street of the area but he didn't want to venture into there right now. Instead he moved on watching the people he encountered, looking for weaknesses or a sign of money but they all looked like tired, sun weathered down and outs. Jack realised that he probably fit right it.

The day was getting hotter and Jack felt even worse, with each step he took he clenched his sore fist to distract himself from the pains of withdrawal and his greed for the drug. He had no money, but if he was going to find a phone, or something to cure his pain, he would need something.

As he neared another short stretch of what looked to have once been bars or businesses he herd a voice shout out, "hey gringo!" Jack looked passed the shoddy run down buildings and across the street where a young man stood, watching him and grinning. "You an American? English? Gringo!" The guy shouted. Jack looked around, the area was quiet and almost deserted other than a few old farm trucks which occasionally rattled by on the bumpy road.

Jack headed towards him slowly as he thought about his options, he didn't know why the kid was calling out to him but an opportunity may have presented itself and he wasn't going to miss a chance if it appeared.

Jack crossed the road careful to mind his step before heading towards the narrow alleyway the young guy was backing down, still watching him, clearly amused.

"You talking to me?" Jack asked gruffly, not stepping between the two derelict buildings in case this was some sort of trap.

The kid nodded his head and Jack studied him for a moment. He looked to be Spanish but his English was good. "I'm a business man," the kid stated, making no attempt to move towards Jack.

"Is that so?" Jack asked, appearing irritated, it seemed to give the young guy more energy as he bounced on his feet.

"Yep, and all the Americans that come down here are looking for business," the kid explained. Jack shook his head and laughed slightly, wondering if the guy before him had a phone or cash.

"What business is that?"

"Oh I don't know," the guy said arrogantly, rolling his eyes, "maybe they want a woman, maybe they want a place to hide out, maybe they want something to make them feel better…" He spoke animatedly, raising an eyebrow as he waited for Jack to respond.

"What, like medicine?" Jack asked sarcastically, but the pain running through his body seemed to get worse as he realised he could get a fix. He didn't want it, he told himself, but he sure did need it, he admitted as he tried to shut the two voices out of his mind.

"I have all kinds of medicine," the guy said, gesturing for him to come closer.

"You on your own?" Jack asked, playing the part of a cautious man, wanting to make the kid feel cocky, he as certain he would be, this place was deserted.

"I'm a one man show," he said, now eager to do business. "How much money you got?" He asked as Jack took a step into the shade of the alley.

"How much you charging?"

"You've not even told me what you want," the kid snapped, now a little impatient, wondering if the guy was jerking his chain.

"I want something to make me feel better," Jack said, his voice ruff again, "anything you got."

The man nodded, "okay dude, show me the money and then I'll go get you what you want."

Jack shook his head, "I want to see it first. I'm not paying for any watered down shit."

The guy glared at him for a moment before adding, "you better have the cash man, because I don't accept any other payment forms, if you catch my drift."

Jack let out a laugh, generally amused by the kids weariness, "I have what you want."

"Good." The kid flipped out a silver cell phone and made to call his partner who would, Jack assumed, deliver the goods. His heart pounding in his chest Jack pulled out his gun and as the kid was about to draw his own Jack shot him in the arm. The kid fell backwards into the wall and then onto the ground as the phone clattered onto the ground. Jack scrambled to phone and then turned without a second glance at the kid and ran as fast as he could back to the barn, gun in one hand and the phone in the other as his heart beat heavily in his chest.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack had a searing stitch in his side when he finally made it back to the old barn. Panting and out of breath he tucked the cell phone in his back pocket before hurriedly climbing in through the window and checking for Nina. He expected her to be as he had left her, or hiding and waiting to take advantage of him. He knew she hadn't ran, she had nothing to gain from it.

The haystack he had dumped her on was empty except for a dribble of blood. For a moment he thought she had gone until he remembered cuffing her hands together as he saw a slight glimmer of light in the darkness. After taking a step closer he could make out her body on the floor, hidden beneath the hay. Her arm was still awkwardly cuffed and she was still unconscious, or at least she seemed that way. Not wasting a moment Jack climbed back outside, not wanting to be near Nina when he made the call, knowing that when push came to shove she would oppose him to save herself, like she would anybody if she herself was at risk.

He sighed and crouched down, leaning his back against the wall he found almost comfort as his stomach muscles relaxed slightly. As he absently stared at the bloodied bandage wrapped around his throbbing hand he wondered if he was making the right call.

He stood up and started pacing again. He had to do it. His mission plan right from the start had been to stop this virus from getting out, he couldn't go back without it, not after everything Tony and Gael had sacrificed for this to work. _Not after everything I have sacrificed_, he silently added as an afterthought as a new tremble shook through his hands while he determinedly keyed in the numbers and listened with baited breath as his only contact number began to ring.

"Hello," the voice answered casually, and Jack felt his heart skip a beat. He didn't recognise the voice but it didn't matter, it would work anyway.

"Get me Salazar," Jack said calmly, and he heard the voice mumbling in the background and then a sudden sensation of fear seemed to float over him, distracting him as he realised that Salazar was with this man, already at their safe house in Mexico, they had already evaded the authorities. Jack knew their was no end to the law enforcement officers here who could have helped him, Salazar had money which provided endless bribes when necessary. Jack was certain he had been given help to escape the chaos they had both been at the centre of.

"Who is this?" A sharp voice suddenly demanded and Jack jumped as he was startled by his voice.

He kept his voice level and passive as he finally spoke. "Ramon its me."

There was silence for a moment before laughter erupted. "Jack Bauer? I don't believe it!" He said, almost cheerfully.

"I have a problem," Jack said, wasting no time, knowing Ramon needed to think he was dependant on him, on his drugs and desperate for his help. Even though they both knew it was the last thing the drug lord would offer him when they met again.

"You most certainly do," Ramon said idly.

"Those men were not there for me, unless it was the arrest me with you," Jack said, anger in his voice as he remembered the agents who, like him, had failed to secure the virus.

"You played me Jack! I already have men out looking for you and when they find you Jack, I promise-"

"I'll leave the cell phone on so you can trace the call and bring me in, Ramon."

"And why would you do that?" Ramon asked suspiciously.

"Because you can give me something I need, and I have something you may want."

"I don't know if I want to set myself up for another trap Jack, maybe I don't want to see you."

"Please," Jack said, trying to sound desperate and panicked, "I have US forces searching for my arrest, I need your help Ramon, I want a fair chance at making a break for it."

"Who says I want to even see you alive after Hectors death-"

"Hector has nothing to do with this," Jack snapped, suddenly furious as the image of Claudia came to mind, he willed it away but he couldn't, "you killed your brother, I didn't," he yelled.

"So what makes you think you can trust me?" Salazar asked, clearly enjoying this conversation with Jack.

"I don't trust you, just like you don't trust me. But I have Nina Myers, I'm sure she can get you lots of information and lots more money. She betrayed you too Ramon. In return I want a little cash and I don't want to run while looking over my shoulder with every step I take in case your men are after me. I want a clean slate Ramon," he said edgily, wondering how the man would react, hoping he couldn't see through his lies.

"Interesting Jack," Ramon drawled almost sleepily, "my men are tracing the call now. I will order them to bring you to me alive. Then we can discuss a possibly to the problems you and I both have."

Jack swallowed, hating how Ramon set the offer up, staying in control. But it didn't matter, he just needed to see Salazar, hopefully things would go well from there. Jack knew he was being naïve to think so but he needed to cling onto some hope of cleaning up the mess he made, no matter how false it was.

He shook his head slightly and shrugged his shoulders in exhaustion. "See you soon," Jack said bluntly, before ending the call but keeping the cell on. He sat back down on the ground and fought to keep his eyes open, before opening up the cell and dialling in another number. As he called Chase's private line he somehow knew this conversation would be even harder than the previous one as he tried to think of what he could possibly say.


End file.
